Detachable mandrel shaft for winders and unwinders



Inventor Louis Jean Chambon Paris, France Appl. No. 755,549 Filed Aug.27, 1968 Patented Nov. 10, 1970 Assignee Societe DEtudes De MachinesSpeciales,

Societe Anonyme Paris, France Priority Sept. 1, 1967 France 119,715

DETACHABLE MANDREL SHAFT FOR WTNDERS AND UNWINDERS 3 Claims, 3 DrawingFigs.

US. Cl... 242/72.l

Int. Cl B65h 75/24 Field of Search 242/72.l

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References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 559,682 5/1896 Coultas r.242/72.l 1,138,079 5/1915 Cameron et al. 242/72.l 2,266,408 12/1941Bruestle 242/72.l 2,291,863 8/1942 Baker 242/72.l 3,201,058 8/1965Waldherr et a1. 242/72.l

Primary Examiner-Nathan L. Mintz Attorneyj- Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel.1. Lobato ABSTRACT: A mandrel comprising a hollow cylindrical bodyformed with opening in which locking jaws are adapted to slide radiallyfor locking engagement with the inner cylindrical wall of the mandrel,the movements of said jaws being controlled in the locking direction bya control rod mounted for rotation but held against axial movement insaid hollow cylindrical body and provided with end means for causingthis rotation, another hollow cylindrical member adapted to slideaxially in said body being provided with frustoconical outer surfacemeans adapted to engage the inner surface of said locking jaws and alsowith splined end portions adapted in their outer position to act astrunnions to said shaft assembly, spring rings constantly urging saidjaws towards the shaft axis.

Patented 10, 1970 #5 EM: m mfi 2 3 in m ww 25 5 :QN i m llll'lll m AN.mw m Q32 0 DETACHABLE MANDREL SHAFT FOR'WINDERS AND UNWINDERSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to adetachable mandrel-supporting shaft for winding and unwinding devicesand has specific reference to a shaft adapted to be releasably connected to a mandrel on which a spool of a web material, for

example a paper web, is formed or to be formed.

Apparatus for winding and unwinding a web material are already known. Inthese apparatus the axial or central mandrel, on which the spool of webmaterial is to be formed, must necessarily be adapted to be rotatablymounted on a suitable support during the winding or unwinding operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is concerned with a mandrelshaft designed more specially for carrying out these operations.

The invention has primarily for its object to provide a detachablemandrel-supporting shaft for winding and unwinding devices, which isadapted to be engaged in a hollow central mandrel-on which the spool ofweb material is formed or to be formed, and which permits tosimultaneously release the shaft from the mandrel and the shaft from itssupporting bearings in a single operation. I

To this end, the detachable mandrel-supporting shaft according to theinvention comprises therein end trunnion members solid with wedge-shapedmembers in order to cause jaws to emerge or be retracted with respect tothe outer peripheral surface of the shaft, and concurrently causing saidend trunnion members to slide between an inward or retracted positionwithin said shaft and an outward position in which said end trunnionmembers are used to rotatably support the shaft.

The axial sliding movement of said pair of wedge-shaped members and ofsaid end members rigid therewith is obtained by providing a coaxialcontrol rod rotatably mounted within the shaft body and extendingthroughout the shaft length, said rod comprising two screw-threadedportions having opposite pitches and a pair of nuts engaging saidscrew-threaded portions, respectively, and each rigid with one of saidwedgeshaped members, respectively.

The aforesaid central control rod comprises at either end a head adaptedto be rotatably driven by means of a suitable tool whereby a rotation ofsaid rod in one direction is attended by the outward movement of saidlocking jaws and of said end members, and in the opposite direction bythe inward movement of said jaws end members. It is clear that underthese conditions the operations consisting in locking and releasing themandrel-supporting shaft in said mandrel are particularly easy toaccomplish.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A typical form of embodiment of thisinvention will now be described by way of example with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is an axial fragmentary section showing one-halfof amandrel-supporting shaft according to this invention, the locking jawsand the end members being shown in their outermost positions;

FIG. 2 is an axial section similar to FIG. 1 but showing the lockingjaws and the end members in their innermost or retracted positions and,

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The mandrel-supporting shaft ofwhich only the left-hand i.e. the portion extending on the left-handside of its transverse median plane x-y is shown in the drawingcomprises essentially a hollow body 1 consisting of a plurality ofassembled sections, Le. a central sleeve 2, an intermediate cylinder 3and an end sleeve 4. These elements 2, 3 and 4 are assembled by mutualengagement of screw-threaded portions 5 and 6.

Formed in the intermediate cylinder 3 are longitudinal openings or slots7 disposed at spaced angular intervals about the shaft axisyalthough theform of embodiment illustrated comprises three openings'7, this numbershould not be construed as limiting the invention; each opening or slot7 has slidably mounted for radial movement therein a locking jaw 8 ofsubstantially parallelipipedic configuration having its outer surfaceformed with longitudinal ribs or like projections 9 adapted, when it isdesired to lock the shaft in relation to the mandrel, to engage withforce the inner surface of the hollow mandrel 1 1, for example acardboard mandrel shown only diagrammatically in dash-and-dot lines.

These three locking jaws 8 are constantly urged for engagement by theirinner faces against an inner axial sliding member 12 by annular springrings 13 fitted in grooves 14 formed in the locking jaws 8. v

The longitudinal sliding member 12 controlling the outward and inwardmovements of the locking jaws 8 consists of a hollow, substantiallycylindrical member having its outer surface formed with two axiallyspaced frustoconical or tapered portions 12a and 12b acting as wedges.These frustoconical portions 12a and 12b are adapted to co-act withportions 8a and 8b, having the same angular inclination, formed on theinner surface of the aforesaid locking jaws 8.

The sliding member 12 is provided, at its end registering throughout theshaft length. This screw rod rotatably mounted in a bearing-notshown-housed in the central sleeve 2 is held against axialmovement by asuitable thrust bearing 22.

On the other side of said median transverse plane x-y the rod 21comprises another screw-threaded portion of a pitch opposite to that ofportion 19, this other threaded portion receiving a nut rigid with theother sliding member disposed symmetrically in relation to slidingmember 12.

At its outer end the control rod 21 carries a square head 23 permittingits operation by means of a suitable tool or spanner.

On the other hand, the central sliding member 12 is completed at itsouter end by an'end member 24 formed with an outer splines 25.

When the mandrel-supporting shaft is locked in the hollow mandrel 11 thevarious component elements of this shaft are positioned as shownirkFlG. 1. In this case, it will be seen that the sliding member 12 isin its outermost or left-hand position within the body portion 1 of theshaft, with the splined end member 24 projecting therefrom so that itcan be trunnioned in a bearing-mot shownbesides, the locking jaws 8 areforced outwards against the resistance of spring rings 13 by thefrustoconical wedge-shaped portions 12a and 12b of sliding member 12.Therefore, the ribs or like projections 9 of the locking jaws 8 areimpressed into the material constituting the mandrel 11, and thismandrel 11 is thus rigidly connected to the shaft 1.

When it is desired to release the mandrel 11 from its shaft 1, it isonly necessary to rotate the central control rod 21 in the properdirection by means of a suitable tool or spanner-not shown-engaging thesquare head 23. The rotation of rod 21 is attended by the rotation ofscrew 19, so that the nut-forming sleeve 15 engaging this screw moves tothe right as seen in FIG. 1 while it is locked against rotation as aconsequence of the mutual engagement of splines 16 in the splines 18 ofthe fixed sleeve 17. As a result, the sliding member 12 is caused toperform a movement of translation to the right whereby, due to themovement of the frustoconical portions 12a and 12b in the samedirection, the locking jaws 8 are released and moved inwards of theshaft body 1 by the action of return springs 13.

At the end of this rotation of rod 21 the jaws 8 are retractedcompletely within their openings 7 as shown in FIG. 2. At this time theshaft 1 is released from the mandrel 11 and can therefore be extractedtherefrom.

It will also be seen in FIG. 2 that the movement of translation to theright of sliding member 12 is concurrently attended by the inwardmovement of the splined end member 24 in the shaft body 1, so that thisshaft body is also released from its supporting bearings-not shown.

I claim:

1. A detachable mandrel-supporting shaft for supporting a hollow mandrelon which a spool of web material is formed or to be formed comprising: ahollow cylindrical body, means defining openings in a wall of saidhollow cylindrical body, locking jaws mounted for radial movement insaid openings, first and second wedge-shaped members disposedsymmetrically in relation to a median transverse plane of said shaftresilient means constantly urging said jaws against said wedgeshapedmembers, means mounting said first and second wedge-shaped members foraxial movement interiorly of said body and in sliding contact withrespective ones of said locking jaws, first and second end trunnionmembers rigid with respective ones of said first and second wedge-shapedmembers and movable therewith. and means for effecting alternate axialmovement of said first and second wedge-shaped members to thereby effectradial movement of said jaws alternately outwardly and inwardly withrespect to the outer peripheral surface of said hollow body concurrentlywith axial sliding movement of said first and second end trunnionmembers from a retracted position within said shaft to a projectingposition in which said first and second end trunnion members areeffective to rotatably support the shaft.

2. A shaft as set forth in claim 1, which comprises a coaxial controlrod rotatably mounted in said shaft body and extending throughout thelength of said shaft, first and second threader portions having oppositepitches which are formed on said rod, and first and second nutsrespectively solid with said first and second wedge-shaped members andengaging said first and second threaded portions.

3. A shaft as set forth in claim 2, which comprises at either end ofsaid central control rod a head shaped to permit its engagement by amember for rotating same.

